RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY COHESION

Interview with Dr Kevin O'Grady and Dr Joyce Miller, Warwick Institute of Education

Of all the factors affecting relationships between people of different ethnicity, culture or religion, perhaps ignorance is the most significant. Religious education in schools is an ideal opportunity to learn about other people's religious beliefs, but these lessons do not always impact community relationships in real life. One of the aims of the REDCo project is to promote an interpretive approach to Religious Education, encouraging students to recognise the complex nature of religious belief.

Community cohesion has long been part of the UK social policy agenda. There are numerous factors affecting the relationships between people of different ethnicity, culture or religion living in the same place. One of them is ignorance; a lack of understanding of the other’s set of beliefs and values, as comparable with one’s own. Religious education in schools is an ideal opportunity to provide a space for students to learn about religious beliefs and to bridge some of the gaps. However, this does not necessarily result in a level of understanding which would impact the actual community relationships in real life.

In 2006 a project was set up to look critically at how religious education might perform such a role. “The aim of the REDCo project - ‘Religion in Education: A contribution to dialogue or a factor of conflict in transforming societies of European countries’ - was to establish whether studies of religions in schools can help to promote dialogue and reduce conflict in school and society,” explains Joyce Miller, one of the twelve researchers from the University of Warwick working on the project. Looking at other European countries emphasised the range of ways that religious education was already being taught and therefore provided an insight into the best methods for provoking student engagement, at a deep level.

The aim of REDCo was to establish whether studies of religions in schools can help to promote dialogue and reduce conflict in school and society...

One of the issues that was documented was the portrayal of religions as homogenous schools of thought, neglecting their inner diversity. Previous research in this area highlighted the value of an interpretative approach to the teaching of religion education, which creates space for the student to think critically about the subject matter. Professor Robert Jackson, Warwick Institute of Education and Director of REDCo, who has conducted ethnographic research into the transmission of religious culture to children in disapora situations, advocated this approach as the most valuable, as it mirrors the ways that children learn about religion in wider society.

The interpretative approach has been formalised around three main concepts: representation, interpretation and reflexivity. Crucially the representation of religion is contested and complex, reflecting the changing nature of religion. In the interpretative stage, meaning is drawn out by discussing the theoretical concepts in relation to real world experiences of the learner. Finally, reflexivity is developed through the relationship between the learner and the subject being studied: “There are three strands to reflexivity: edification, which is re-assessing the participant’s own way of life through new understanding; a constructive critique of what is being studied - this approach is not about promoting an undiscerning acceptance but is one that requires critical engagement; and a critique of the interpretive process.”

Crucially the representation of religion is contested and complex...

Inventively, Prof Jackson set up a ‘community of practice’ as part of Warwick’s contribution to the project; he invited past and present Warwick postgraduate students to participate. In the end, seven of those participants contributed case studies to the final publication; they all shared the same epistemological basis and theoretical framework, using the interpretative approach: “It proved to be a highly effective and developmental way of working as experienced researchers worked alongside MA students in a context that was non-hierarchical and collaborative.”

The study concluded that the interpretive approach provides a rich, flexible framework for religious education practice. “In some ways, what emerged was a federation of approaches, some of which sat closer to the original than others. Perhaps this is inevitable when researchers genuinely set out to interrogate ideas in different contexts and with different aims in mind.”

The publication outputs from Warwick so far are an edited book (Ipgrave et al, 2009) and a peer-reviewed international journal article (O’Grady, 2010). Kevin O’Grady gave a conference paper on the community of practice in summer 2010 at the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values in Ottawa. The paper adapts community of practice findings to issues of freedom of belief, another indication of the project’s relevance and reach. A whole edition of the leading international academic journal in the field – The British Journal of Religious Education - will be dedicated to the REDCo project in 2011. The REDCo project has now published 19 titles on a variety of themes and based on a range of research methods. These give insight and guidance on religion across Europe, young people’s views on religion and community cohesion, dialogue, and ways in which cohesion and conflict can be addressed through religious education.

If you would like to find out more about this project feel free to contact Kevin (ogradykevin@yahoo.co.uk) or Joyce (Joycecrownest@aol.com).